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Author Topic: My Kingdom For a Good Bottling Wand!  (Read 5026 times)

Offline purduekenn

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My Kingdom For a Good Bottling Wand!
« on: June 01, 2018, 07:50:28 am »
Over the years of bottling I still haven't found a good bottling wand. At first they work ok but over time all of the ones that I have use always develop a large drip.  Any suggestions?

Offline Stevie

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My Kingdom For a Good Bottling Wand!
« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2018, 08:10:01 am »
Bottle faster

But seriously, it’s a $5 part. It can only last so long.

Offline Nathan

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Re: My Kingdom For a Good Bottling Wand!
« Reply #2 on: June 01, 2018, 08:36:47 am »
Over the years of bottling I still haven't found a good bottling wand. At first they work ok but over time all of the ones that I have use always develop a large drip.  Any suggestions?
Save up and buy a Last Straw from Northern brewer They work well and deliver competition worthy beers takes about 20 minutes to bottle a 20 litre keg


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Offline Richard

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Re: My Kingdom For a Good Bottling Wand!
« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2018, 08:43:33 am »
The spring can get compressed so it doesn't have enough force to close hard enough to make a good seal. Take the thing apart and clean it, making sure that the sealing surfaces are clean and smooth. Stretch the spring apart to elongate it and put it all back together, making sure to push the end cap all the way onto the tube as far as you can get it. This can work for a few times, but eventually the spring gets weak and needs to be replaced.
Original Gravity - that would be Newton's

Offline purduekenn

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Re: My Kingdom For a Good Bottling Wand!
« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2018, 02:24:32 pm »
Bottle faster

But seriously, it’s a $5 part. It can only last so long.

I agree and I have gone through several! I can bottle faster when my wifey helps   :)

Offline purduekenn

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Re: My Kingdom For a Good Bottling Wand!
« Reply #5 on: June 01, 2018, 02:26:48 pm »
Over the years of bottling I still haven't found a good bottling wand. At first they work ok but over time all of the ones that I have use always develop a large drip.  Any suggestions?
Save up and buy a Last Straw from Northern brewer They work well and deliver competition worthy beers takes about 20 minutes to bottle a 20 litre keg

Thanks - I do bottle out of my keg using a Blichmann Beer Gun and it works great. But I bottle some for bottle conditioning too  :)


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Offline flars

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Re: My Kingdom For a Good Bottling Wand!
« Reply #6 on: June 01, 2018, 03:37:39 pm »
After a thorough cleaning make sure the end of the spring with the cross piece is against the head of the plunger tip.

Offline Robert

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Re: My Kingdom For a Good Bottling Wand!
« Reply #7 on: June 01, 2018, 03:39:16 pm »

Over the years of bottling I still haven't found a good bottling wand. At first they work ok but over time all of the ones that I have use always develop a large drip.  Any suggestions?
Save up and buy a Last Straw from Northern brewer They work well and deliver competition worthy beers takes about 20 minutes to bottle a 20 litre keg

Thanks - I do bottle out of my keg using a Blichmann Beer Gun and it works great. But I bottle some for bottle conditioning too  :)


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So for bottle conditioning, instead of using a bucket and siphon, just rack into a keg with your priming syrup, slosh to mix, and bottle with your beer gun.  You can purge the bottles, minimize the time the beer is exposed to the environment, and fill and cap with ease and control.
Rob Stein
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Offline Richard

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Re: My Kingdom For a Good Bottling Wand!
« Reply #8 on: June 01, 2018, 07:59:15 pm »
Only works if you have a keg...
Original Gravity - that would be Newton's

Offline Robert

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Re: My Kingdom For a Good Bottling Wand!
« Reply #9 on: June 01, 2018, 08:28:57 pm »
Only works if you have a keg...
Good reason to pick up a spare used keg if you can.  Not as cheap as replacing a wand (at least one time) but it's also not a unitasker.
Rob Stein
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Offline Slowbrew

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Re: My Kingdom For a Good Bottling Wand!
« Reply #10 on: June 02, 2018, 06:15:28 am »
Bottling wands can be pain.  I don't bottle much anymore but my first wand, that had a red tip, stills works the best.  I got a black tipped one since the first was having an issue with the plunger getting weak and bending but the new on leaked too much.  I bought a stainless steel type that works but makes it difficult to judge when to stop filling the bottle.  It doesn't displace enough volume to fill the bottle to the top and then remove the wand for the "perfect" fill.

Now I just keg and tell people if they want beer to stop by for a visit.   ;D

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Offline purduekenn

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Re: My Kingdom For a Good Bottling Wand!
« Reply #11 on: June 02, 2018, 12:06:16 pm »

Over the years of bottling I still haven't found a good bottling wand. At first they work ok but over time all of the ones that I have use always develop a large drip.  Any suggestions?
Save up and buy a Last Straw from Northern brewer They work well and deliver competition worthy beers takes about 20 minutes to bottle a 20 litre keg

Thanks - I do bottle out of my keg using a Blichmann Beer Gun and it works great. But I bottle some for bottle conditioning too  :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So for bottle conditioning, instead of using a bucket and siphon, just rack into a keg with your priming syrup, slosh to mix, and bottle with your beer gun.  You can purge the bottles, minimize the time the beer is exposed to the environment, and fill and cap with ease and control.

Good ideal I'll have try that sometime :) 

Offline a10t2

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Re: My Kingdom For a Good Bottling Wand!
« Reply #12 on: June 02, 2018, 12:28:13 pm »
I much prefer the gravity-sealed wands to those with a spring. I've had mine for maybe 10 years now. https://www.morebeer.com/products/springless-bottle-filler-38.html
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Offline scrap iron

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Re: My Kingdom For a Good Bottling Wand!
« Reply #13 on: June 04, 2018, 08:06:25 am »
I much prefer the gravity-sealed wands to those with a spring. I've had mine for maybe 10 years now. https://www.morebeer.com/products/springless-bottle-filler-38.html
+ 1 to this, and add to thoroughly back flush filler at the tip to wash out any bits of hops or debris.
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Offline ynotbrusum

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Re: My Kingdom For a Good Bottling Wand!
« Reply #14 on: June 07, 2018, 12:44:15 pm »

Over the years of bottling I still haven't found a good bottling wand. At first they work ok but over time all of the ones that I have use always develop a large drip.  Any suggestions?
Save up and buy a Last Straw from Northern brewer They work well and deliver competition worthy beers takes about 20 minutes to bottle a 20 litre keg

Thanks - I do bottle out of my keg using a Blichmann Beer Gun and it works great. But I bottle some for bottle conditioning too  :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So for bottle conditioning, instead of using a bucket and siphon, just rack into a keg with your priming syrup, slosh to mix, and bottle with your beer gun.  You can purge the bottles, minimize the time the beer is exposed to the environment, and fill and cap with ease and control.

Thanks for that, Robert.  I will do this on my next bottled batch!  So obvious, yet I never would have thought to do it, plus I can likely adapt it to be low oxygen compliant.  I have learned something new, once again, from those on this forum. 
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